Up All Night
by BlameItOnTheNaquadah
Summary: Vala can't sleep. Daniel offers to help. Sam watches with interest. Cameron's in charge - he hopes. And Teal'c? Teal'c sneaks off to Chulak. Just some frothy nonsense to pass the time. Only my second ever fanfic, and my first for Stargate SG-1. Hope that you enjoy - please review! But be gentle with me :-) Rated T because I don't really understand how these things work!
1. Prologue

**Big Fat Disclaimer - I don't own any of the SG-1 characters. At all. Unfortunately. More's the pity. If I did, we'd be on season 17 by now. **

**All I'm allowed to do is take the pretty toys out of their box to play with every now and then. I hope that you like the games I make up for them!**

* * *

Prologue.

Daniel walked slowly into his office, key card between his teeth, coffee in one hand and a pile of books and papers balanced in the other. He kicked the door wider, stumbling slightly. The books wobbled. The coffee slopped, but miraculously stayed in the cup. He tutted and his key card fell out from between his teeth. The archaeologist sighed, paused and dropped his head to his chest.

"One day, Jackson, you'll be able to get into your office without dropping something. One day – maybe."

He pushed the card with his foot across the floor, simultaneously sliding the books and papers onto his desk and keeping a close eye on the coffee cup. Slosh, slosh – but still in situ. Success! He found an old receipt to use as a coaster, put the drink down and bent to pick up the key-card. It had ended up being pushed partly underneath one of his cabinets, as he tugged it out something sparkly and silver came with it.

Daniel picked up the shiny little object with the card. One of Vala's hair clips. Goodness knows how it had ended up under there. He turned to drop it next to the emery board and nail varnish which she'd left behind last night, then paused. They were gone. He frowned. She'd definitely left them here last night – on the table in front of the couch. He'd moved them himself just before he went home. He glanced about his office. No sign of them. Hmmmm.

The archaeologist rubbed his neck. It was too early in the morning for this. Had he put them somewhere else? In _his_ bag by mistake? Surreptitiously he peeped into his rucksack before snapping himself out of it.

"Jackson, you don't wear nail varnish! Seriously!"

The sound of the alarms going off, signifying an unauthorised wormhole down in the gate room sent him scurrying off towards Walter, and he forgot all about the lost nail varnish and emery board.


	2. Chapter 1 Quetesh is Causing Problems

Vala shot up in bed, heart pounding and covered in sweat. She couldn't catch her breath for a minute – shuddering, she dragged oxygen into her lungs, her hand clutching at the front of her pyjamas. Her eyes were watering and her nose was running – was she crying? She wasn't sure if they were real tears or a result of waking up quickly. After all – Vala Mal Doran did NOT cry.

She swung her legs onto the floor and sat forward leaning her head on her hands, waiting for her heart rate to calm down. Every night was the same now – shooting awake at about 2 am then staying awake until dawn, because she was too afraid to go back to sleep.

She'd been subject to nightmares for a long time, ever since her time as Quetesh, but generally limited to just five or six a month. However, since SG-1 had been stuck on the Odyssey for fifty years they'd been worse. And after they'd come back from finally defeating the Ori they occurred almost every night. Nearly every time she slept they came – vicious, dark, spiteful dreams – sometimes she was still host to the Gou'uld, sometimes just Vala. Sometimes she was alone, sometimes with old associates, mostly with her new ones at the SGC. Sometimes it was just her and Daniel – they were the worst. This time they'd been trapped and he'd been drowning – she had yelled and yelled and tried to hold him but nobody had come, and he'd dropped under the water pulling her with him. All the time she could hear the voice of Quetesh, laughing and mocking.

Vala rolled back onto the bed and put her pillow over her head.

"I hate you!" she said to Quetesh – the part of her that still lived inside her memories. "You ruined me! You ruined my life for ever!"

She realised that she'd shouted the last sentence.

Hope no-one's listening in the communications room, she thought. I'll sound like a mad woman.

She smiled in spite of herself. Even more like a mad woman. They all think I'm wonko around here anyway. I'd just be proving it.

She lay for a while with the pillow still on her head. In the darkness she felt for the cuddly giraffe, as soon as she touched him she pulled him in close to her, shoving the pillow away.

So, what to do now for the next five or six hours until anyone else turned up from SG-1? Vala considered her options.

I could go to the gym – wear myself out – sit on that machine where you lift your legs up and down – I could pretend I've got Daniel there instead of the machine, in between my legs so to speak – stop it Vala!

I wonder if Walter's on duty – he's so easy to embarrass – what was that word I asked him about yesterday? Pantaloons – anyone would think it was a swear word the way he blushed! Perhaps I'll ask him if he knows what a "chamber pot" is – it sounds very regal – I wonder if the Queen of England has one? Perhaps Landry would know – it'd be worth asking just to see his face.

A Vala giggle popped out. She felt wide awake. The neon numbers on the clock said 02.41 am. Oh well. She sat up, pulled a bright pink hoodie over her very skimpy and see-through pyjamas and quietly opened her door. No-one about. She slipped out into the corridor and scurried away towards the elevators.

* * *

Vala slipped the key-card out from inside her pyjama top and used it to open Daniel's office door. She didn't even feel guilty – well, it wasn't like she was going to steal anything. Probably not anyway. She really ought to put that credit card back sometime. She slunk inside and shut the door behind her, in case any inquisitive airmen came patrolling the corridor.

Turning the desk lamp on she started to rummage about. Up on the cabinet she found her sparkly clip and stuck it back into her hair. She picked up a little Gou'ald remote control device and pressed the bright blue stone in it's centre.

Wish I could remember what this thing does, she thought. She pressed it again. Nothing happened. She tossed it back onto the shelf. Moving along she found a half eaten packet of biscuits – helping herself to a few she went and sat down on the couch. Feet up on the coffee table she flicked the little TV on. Goodness knows, it had taken months to wear Daniel down into allowing her to have a television even THIS big in his office. Next to it was a set of headphones which she was supposed to wear if he was working. Vala grinned wickedly and turned the volume up. MTV were showing rock classics – a woman in a leather jacket was up on a pool table, a chubby man singing back up at her.

Ooooh! She knew him – what was his name? Beefsteak? Beefloaf? Something like that. He was in that strange film which Walter liked – Rocky Mountains Picture Show. Wasn't that it's name?

Vala ate her biscuits, and found the coffee, and watched the TV until she'd managed to squash down again that part of her soul which she didn't like people to see. Then she stood up, flicked off the TV, and tiptoed back off to her room. It was 5.06am. Time for a cat nap before the rest of SG-1 turned up for work.

Back in Daniel's office there were biscuit crumbs all over the couch and an empty coffee mug left on the table. She was going to get busted.


	3. Chapter 2 Someone's Not Quite in Trouble

Daniel walked slowly into his office, key card between his teeth, coffee in one hand and a pile of books and papers balanced in the other. He kicked the door wider, stumbling slightly. The books wobbled. The coffee slopped, but miraculously stayed in the cup. He was about to tut, then remembered what had happened the previous morning – clamping his teeth firmly around his key-card he marched into his office and plonked his mountain of research down on the desk, placing the still-full cup of coffee next to it.

He hoped that he'd see Vala today – she'd been off world yesterday with SG-5, pottering about in some dodgy tavern in a dodgy town on a dodgy planet. It was the type of work she did best, he thought, when she could use her pirate/thief/smuggler skills in a whole new way, for the benefit of the SGC. Anyway, whatever they'd done out there had worked – the team had come back through the Stargate with a chest full of relics and naquadah. Vala had been grinning like a Cheshire cat – she always felt better when a plan she was involved in actually worked.

Daniel smiled. Mind you, it was rare that _any _of their plans worked – she really should be doubly proud of herself. Plus it had been nice to see her smiling – he frowned as he realised that he hadn't seen her Cheshire cat smile for a long time. Oh, she'd still been grinning a fair ammount, mostly when annoying him or trying to wheedle something out of Mitchell, but now he thought about it, they'd been slightly off. Hadn't quite made it to her eyes.

He turned towards his shelf. Where was that hair clip? He'd give it back to her today.

Gone. That was where it was. Vanished. The archaeologist rubbed the back of his neck.

No, Jackson, you're not mad – that stupid thing was here yesterday, and here is where you left it.

He turned and moved further into the room, stopping at the sight of an empty coffee cup and – was that biscuit crumbs all over the sofa? He looked up at his pack of cookies. Nearly all gone. With a flash of inspiration he snatched up the TV remote and switched on the screen.

MTV came blaring out at full belt! Daniel squeezed his eyes shut and turned down the volume as quickly as possible. Vala! He tossed the remote aside and scanned the office briefly. How on earth had she managed to get in? Why was he even asking himself – doubtless she'd procured herself a key-card from somewhere. That woman was incorrigible!

Dr Jackson, in a rare fit of temper, slammed out of his office and stormed off down the corridor towards the control room. Halfway to the elevators he made a swift about turn, went back to his office, made sure the door was definitely locked and then retraced his steps. Part way there again, he turned around, went back, collected his mug of coffee, locked the door and proceeded to march for the third time in Walter's direction.

Boy, was Vala was in trouble!

* * *

Daniel swung himself up the stairs into the control room. Walter was sitting in his usual seat but when he saw the archaeologist he stood up.

"Dr Jackson," he said, his face bearing the slightly concerned look that he always wore. "I was about to call for you over the intercom – I think that you need to see this. The CCTV picked it up about three nights ago – sorry, I meant to try and catch you yesterday."

"Let me guess," scowled Daniel. "Is it video involving an ex-space pirate breaking into my office?"

"Er – not exactly," replied Walter, looking at the other man nervously.

"Well what is it then?"

"Just a moment – er – take a seat Dr Jackson, there's quite a lot of it." Walter pulled another chair over.

"What?" Daniel felt rather flummoxed now. He'd thought that he was going to catch Vala in the act of some light pilfering but now the technician was confusing him. He sat down and waited. The screen flashed and scrolled for a few seconds before Walter spoke again.

"There. Look."

It was easy to recognise Vala – hair in scruffy plaits, wandering up the corridor towards the gym. They watched her go in, she sat on the exercise bike for a while, then tried to use the punch bag as a kind of giant swing. It was mostly unsuccessful, although Daniel let out a guilty chuckle when she landed on her backside. She sloped out of the gym and up towards the lifts, appearing next in the cafeteria. It was empty apart from her. With a small jolt Jackson noticed the time on the monitor – 3.18 am. What was she doing prowling around the SGC at three in the morning? She sat alone, with a sad little cup of coffee, looking very small and lonely. Daniel felt a strange pull on his heartstrings, which he quickly squashed. A few minutes later she wandered off again, turning up in the empty control room, where she sat looking down at the Stargate for a while, moving on to Landry's office and sitting in his chair with her feet up on the desk.

"She fell asleep like that for about an hour." Walter's voice broke in on Daniel. "Then she went straight back to her quarters."

"Insomnia?" asked Daniel. He looked again at the recording. The clock now said 5.11am.

"Possibly," Walter agreed. "Although…"

"What?"

"It's been happening every night. I mean, this wasn't the first time. For about five weeks, possibly slightly longer. The reason I called you is because we saw this two nights ago."

Daniel didn't need to look. He could have guessed. Vala, key-card in hand, breaking into his office at half past two in the morning.

"How long was she in there for?" he growled, eyes narrowing.

"About three hours." Walter fast forwarded the recording. "She came out just before 0500 hours."

"And which of my possessions did she take with her?" said the other man brusquely.

"Er – none, I think." The airman looked surprised. "I wasn't implying that Ms Mal Doran had slipped back into her old ways, I just thought that perhaps you ought to know what she was up to. Being as you're, well, you're …rather…well, you're the closest thing that she..ahem..that she has to family, here on earth."

Daniel closed his eyes and dropped his head. Yes, he supposed that he was. He felt a twinge of sympathy for his team mate – how long had she been suffering with insomnia? She'd looked rather a sad little figure, all alone in the SGC at night. And why hadn't she said anything? She was probably afraid that Landry would stop her going off-world. Or maybe even pull her from the team altogether. Although she wore her SG-1 patches with pride, he suspected that even now Vala sometimes didn't quite believe that she was really worthy of them. It explained why her smile wasn't quite right too – she was probably exhausted.

All of his anger had slipped away. Poor Vala.

"Thanks Walter." He stood up and nodded to the other man. " I'll get to the bottom of this. Don't worry."

The long-serving, long-suffering technician smiled.

"I know that you will Dr Jackson. Good luck."

Daniel slowly descended the staircase. How on earth was he going to bring it up with her though? He ran through various scenarios in his head on the way back to his office – broaching the subject over dinner? No – remember what happened last time! At the conference table? A little too public. In the gym? The cafeteria?

He needn't have worried. When he returned to his office the door was wide open and there – sprawled across the couch, fully dressed, boots on, remote control still in her hand – was Vala, absolutely and soundly asleep.


	4. Chapter 3 A Plan for Sleeping Beauty

Four members of SG-1 stood silently around the couch in Daniel's office, looking down at their team mate, who was still fast asleep on the couch. Mitchell scratched his chin.

"Well, what are we gonna do with her?" he whispered.

Nobody answered for a moment.

"Well, it's not like she's in the way or anything," replied Sam, quietly. "or like we're doing anything special today. I mean, we're busy on base, not due off-world or elsewhere."

"I guess." Cameron looked sideways at Daniel. "How 'bout you though? Is she gonna get in your way?"

The archaeologist shrugged.

"I doubt it. I mean, she's over here, and I'll be at my desk. I just think…." He stopped talking.

"Think what?" Sam looked across at him.

"I think perhaps that she doesn't want us to know that she can't sleep. Maybe we should just all pretend that we didn't come in to work today or something."

Sam rolled her eyes. Cameron did his "seriously, Jackson?" face. Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

"Perhaps," said the Jaffa, after a few moments, "the reason that ValMalDoran has been walking the halls at night is because she wishes to be found out. She knows as well as any of us that nearly every move in the SGC is picked up on the cameras. Even if it is only on a subconscious level, she may be looking for assistance with her insomnia."

The other three all looked at each other.

"You may have a point there, Teal'c," said Sam.

Daniel nodded slowly.

"Mmm…..I mean, we all know how she puts that damned shield up over her feelings all the time! It's like trying to get blood out of a stone sometimes, getting her to reveal what she's really thinking." He said something else, in one of his ancient languages. Cam suspected it was a string of swear words. He caught Sam's eye and grinned at her expression.

"So…," his fellow Colonel paused for a moment, "the best course of action is probably trying to bring the subject up subtly. During a normal or regular activity. For example, while studying ancient artefacts, for example."

Daniel was still nodding, until he realised what Sam was up to.

"Hey, wait!" he scowled. "Why is it always me? Why do I always have to sort her out?"

His voice was louder than he intended. Vala wriggled on the couch and turned to her other side. The remote control slid onto the floor with a clatter. The rest of SG-1 froze for a long moment, until it was obvious that she wasn't waking up yet.

"Because, DanielJackson," said Teal'c, in his deep voice, "you know as well as we do that you are the closest thing that ValaMalDoran has to family, here on Earth. She looks up to you as she does to no-one else."

Daniel wasn't sure about the last sentence but he had to agree with the first. Walter had said something similar too, hadn't he? He sighed. He _was_ her only family on this planet.

"Okay, okay," he blew out a sigh. "But don't blame me if she blows her top."

Cameron slapped him on the shoulder.

"You underestimate yourself, Jackson. You can do subtle when subtle is required. I think." He winked and moved away to the the door. "C'mon, Teal'c – we're already late for the gym."

Teal'c bowed his head in acknowledgement and followed the Colonel out of the office. Sam was grinning.

"Shut up," said Daniel, but without malice. She hugged him swiftly.

"Look after her," she said. "Try not to bring down the SGC between you!"

Then she slipped away too, after the boys, doubtless to fiddle about in her own lab for the rest of the day.

Talk about being abandoned. Jackson sat down wearily and looked at the clock. 9.45am. How could it only be 9.45am?! It felt like he'd been at work all day. He sighed, pulled a translation towards him and waited for Vala to wake up.

* * *

He didn't have to wait long. Twenty minutes later and a tousled head popped up from the other side of the sofa.

"Hello Daniel," she purred in that voice of her's. The one that she used when she didn't want you to know what was really going on behind her face.

"Morning," he grunted. How to bring it up? Even when she'd been caught actually in the act of her – well – crime for want of a better word, he had no idea how to start talking.

"I expect you're wondering why I was sleeping here, aren't you?" Her eyes were huge and luminous, peeping at him from over the back of the couch. There was the ghost of a smile hovering about her mouth somewhere, but he could sense the tension that she was trying to hide. Ah, to hell with it.

"Not really," he looked up at her. " Walter showed me a load of CCTV recordings this morning, that show you wandering all over the base in the middle of the night. So I expect that you were pretty tired, seeing as you've obviously been attempting to become nocturnal."

Vala's mouth dropped open, before she recovered enough to jump up from the couch, hands clasped in front of her chest, a beseeching look on her face.

"Please, Daniel, I didn't steal anything, really I didn't, I _have_ given up all that sort of thing, well - mostly all that sort of thing. Well here on base anyway. Well apart from your key-card obviously, which doesn't really count, because I'm here most of the time too, aren't I? And I need to get in don't I? In case you're not here and I need to work sensibly on my own. Because I can be sensible on my own, sometimes. Mostly. And I really wasn't doing anything that I shouldn't have been doing, Daniel, really I wasn't, please don't tell Landry."

She was right up next to him by the time she'd finished, big grey eyes looking up at him. She thought he was angry, he realised. Well, he had been earlier, but not now. And he wouldn't be now, if he could just get her to admit that she needed help.

"I'm not angry, Vala," he said. A flicker of surprise flashed in her eyes. "But I am concerned. You've been having trouble sleeping, haven't you? How long has it been going on?"

She took a step back. He could see those shutters about to slam down and shut him out.

"Don't!" he barked, making her jump. "Don't pretend that it's all okay, Vala, because it's not. We have evidence. Nobody's angry with you, but you have to let us help you. We care about you here, you're in the SGC family now – you know that. Don't shut us out, Vala. Don't shut me out. Tell me, please," he touched her arm, "and I _will_ look after you."

She was lost, he could see it. Even now, she still had trouble with those stupid barriers that she'd put up around her heart.

"C'mon," he whispered.

She swallowed hard, then before she could change her mind, she clutched the front of Daniel's shirt, pulled him towards her and leaned her head against his chest. Surprised, he placed his hands against the tops of her arms and rubbed them softly.

"Nightmares," whispered Vala. " Horrible nightmares. Since the Odyssey. And the Ori. Terrible, horrible nightmares. Every night."

She let go of his shirt and wrapped her arms around his waist, turning her head to the side, so that she could still lean against him. Daniel was amazed – either he was getting old or the SGC's wacky little alien really was learning to trust at last. He held her close but gently, afraid that she might break if he squeezed too tightly. Her eyes were closed but there were identical tear tracks on each cheek. He thought that he'd better not mention that – one step at a time. Inexplicably, he felt a lump in his own throat. He had to pause for a minute or so until he could speak.

"I'll look after you," he repeated. "We all will. We'll make sure that it all ends up okay. I'll stay on the SGC at night if you like, you can come and wake me up if you get another nightmare. We'll get Carolyn to give you some sleeping tablets or something. It'll be okay."

He realised that he was babbling, but he was so surprised that she'd told him how she really felt he wasn't sure that he could string coherent phrases together at the moment.

"What about Landry?" asked Vala, peeping up at him. Her lashes were still wet with tears, and she had huge dark circles under her eyes. How on earth did none of us see those? thought the archaeologist.

"What about him?"

"Suppose he fires me?"

"Why? Because you can't sleep?" Daniel laughed, took one look at Vala's troubled face and stopped. "I don't think he can do that. And if he does, he'll have to fire me too!"

"Really?" She pushed away from his chest, eyes brightening and lips tweaking into a small smile. "You'd get fired for me?"

"Sure. But it won't come to that. Anyone who hangs around the Stargate for long enough must end up with at least intermittent insomnia, the kind of stuff we get involved in."

Vala danced away from him, brighter already.

"Let's get something to eat!" she declared. "I feel better already, let's go to the cafeteria! Come on Daniel!"

He looked at the translation which he needed to work on, then at his alien friend. Whatever. He slammed down the lift of his laptop, picked up his wallet and followed her out of the door. Partway down the corridor he paused, retraced his steps, and locked his office door.

"Come on!" called Vala, from where she was waiting by the elevators. "I don't know why you're bothering, I've got the other key here!"


	5. Chapter 4 Beauty's Beast is Irritable

**Okay - so, still working out this uploading business. Many thanks to all of you who've read and reviewed so far! Particularly those (you know who you are) who I tried to keep my guilty secret from. :-) And well done for being able to locate the story, because it's still invisible to me on the Fanfic site!**

**Thank you to djenie and for your help - hope you all continue to enjoy the story.**

* * *

It was four nights later, and Daniel was beginning to regret his hasty words about sleeping at the SGC until Vala's nightmares improved. Every night since then she'd appeared at his office door, sometime between two and three o'clock in the morning, usually wide awake and bouncing off of the walls. Bleary eyed, he would pull on his sweatshirt, locate his glasses and shuffle off after her, towards the gym or the cafeteria or wherever it was she'd decided that they were visiting that night. Then, about three hours later, they'd go their separate ways – meeting up again around the conference table anytime after 0800 hours. Sam had offered to stay over on the following Friday, to give him a break, and Mitchell had begrudgingly said that he'd take her on Saturday. Tonight was Tuesday – two days until Carter could give him a good night's sleep.

Daniel looked at the clock on his desk. 11.23pm already. He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes and pinched the top of his nose. Better get his head down for a couple of hours before her ladyship turned up. He went to the sofa and tugged at the mechanism that laid the back down. Voila! An instant double bed. There was no way that he was sleeping on his couch any other way. He put the TV on quietly while he went off to clean his teeth. By the time he returned his eyelids were closing on their own – he turned off the laptop, dropped onto the mattress and was fast asleep in moments.

* * *

Vala came knocking at about 02.15am. The nightmare tonight had been virulent and terrifying – she'd shot out of her own bed and was halfway to Daniel's office before she began to calm down. Her hands were still shaking as she knocked at the door.

No answer.

Please be in there, she thought, please don't have gone anywhere. Please don't have left me.

She knocked again, louder. Nothing. Panic grabbed her, she ran back to her own quarters, grabbed the spare key-card and came back. She was out of breath, trembling so badly that she could barely slide the card into the mechanism. The door unlocked and she tiptoed in, to find Daniel sound asleep in the gentle glow of the little lamp behind the coffee table. She knelt next to him and shook his shoulder gently. Nothing. She punched him.

"Wha….?" He opened his eyes and pushed up on his elbows, focusing eventually on Vala. "Oh – is it that time already?"

He dropped his head back on to the pillow.

"Seriously, I don't think I've got it in me tonight. I'm exhausted."

He shut his eyes and turned over. Vala felt her own eyes fill with tears. She was still shivering from the effects of the nightmare. She'd have to go and sit in the cafeteria on her own again, she certainly wasn't going to beg. But then he HAD stayed up with her for the past four nights. She supposed that she couldn't have it all. Her nose and eyes started to leak. She wiped them with the sleeve of her dressing gown.

Daniel opened his eyes when he heard the door open.

"Come here," he whispered. "We'll top and tail. That's all you're getting. Nothing sexy implied. I'm too tired to get up tonight."

Vala nodded and crept in beside him, her feet up by his shoulder. He pretended that he hadn't seen the tear stains on her face. After a moment he said, "Are you shaking?"

"No." she replied.

"Liar."

The alien turned over and wrapped her arms around one of his legs. She threw her own leg across his chest. Daniel groaned.

"This isn't going to work," he said, grumpily.

There was silence. Vala froze.

"I'll be good," she whispered. "Really I will. Don't make me go back to bed – please Daniel."

He didn't move for a moment, then she felt the couch sink as he sat up and picked up the pillows. He swung his body around so that he was the same way up on the makeshift bed as her.

"Lift your head," he instructed, stuffing one of the cushions underneath her, when she did as he asked. He put the other one down for his head.

"No funny business," he ordered. "I mean it Vala – behave yourself. I'm too tired for your nonsense. Go to sleep."

"I will," whispered his team mate. She turned away from him, even so their bodies were still touching – it was hardly a king-size bed. There was silence for a moment. Then -

"Turn over. Your hair's in my face."

Vala turned back over.

"It was you who said no funny business," she retorted, sharply. Daniel grinned in the darkness.

"And I meant it. But you've got so much hair!"

He put his arm under her neck. She slowly put her own arm across his chest. Her ear was close to his heart. Thump, thump, slow and rhythmic, thump, thump, thump. Her eyes closed slowly. Daniel's arm tightened around her, almost subconsciously. A few minutes later he felt her head grow heavy against him and he knew she was asleep. Another few minutes and so was he.


	6. Chapter 5 Cameron Makes a Discovery

**Ok, so the last chapter should have said a big thank you to I.M Frelling Wonko for your help with all of the original posting business - but it magically removed itself, leaving just an 'and' behind! Thank you for all the reviews - glad that you're all enjoying the story! Hope that you like this chapter :-)**

* * *

Cameron Mitchell came sauntering down the corridors of the SGC the following morning, full of coffee and pancakes and feeling cheerful. General Landry was in a rare good mood too – the fact that Daniel and Vala were both ten minutes late for the 0800 hours meeting hadn't even made him frown. He'd made some smart quip about Dr Jackson being kept up all night by Ms Mal Doran to which Cam had laughed, and then been sent by the General to chivvy them along.

He paused outside the archaeologist's office door. It was very quiet in there. Had he overslept? Perhaps he was down in the cafeteria, running late again. But then, where was Vala? He debated running down to her room first – as the thought was still bouncing about in his head he tried the door, and found it unlocked. Slightly worried he knocked quietly and went in.

Daniel was flat on his back, right arm over his face, dead to the world. His left arm – Cam's eyes nearly popped out of his head – was firmly around Vala, who was curled up like a little kitten, also fast asleep, with her head on his chest.

The Colonel started to laugh. He guessed what had probably led to this happening – Jackson had looked pretty exhausted when they all went home last night – but oh boy! was he going to do some serious teasing now.

"Jackson!" he yelled. Daniel shot upright in bed, eyes wide, hair on end. One second was all it took him to remember where he was. And who he was with.

"Oh crap!" he struggled out of bed, relieved to show his team mate that – yes – he was fully pyjama-ed up under the blankets. "It's not what it looks like Mitchell, really it's not."

"I guess not," sniggered his team leader, " but somethin' tells me it's gonna be all over the SGC before lunchtime! So – you two had a good time after we left last night, huh?"

Vala was propped up on her elbows, long black hair all over the place, with a sleepy smile dancing around her mouth.

"Hello Mitchell," she said, and promptly put her head back down on the pillow.

"I said, it's not what it looks like! You know it!" Daniel was looking seriously harassed, stumbling about, trying to get himself into his clothes.

"We just slept together, that's all," piped up a little voice from the bed. "Just two friends, cuddling in bed and sleeping together."

Cam could see the wicked little grin on Vala's face from where she was still curled up in the blankets.

"Vala!" yelled Daniel. "You are not to go around telling people that we slept together, do you understand? Sleeping together and – er – sleeping together are two very different things! You know it! Now put your clothes on and get out of here!"

"I don't have my clothes with me," said Vala loudly, just as Sam turned up at the door. Two airmen who were chatting to her paused briefly, looked at each other, and then high-tailed it off in the direction of the cafeteria. Sam burst out laughing, as did Cameron.

"Just – just – just – I don't know, but just do it!" Daniel looked like he was about to explode. Carter swiftly took her alien friend's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"You're with me," she ordered, with just a little hint of a giggle in her voice. "Come on, back to your room and put some clothes on."

Vala twinkled up at her and headed off to her quarters. Mitchell leant on the door post, unable to get the grin off of his face. Daniel banged about with a face like thunder, slamming books and drawers and cupboards. Eventually, he looked over at Mitchell, with a wry little smile on his lips.

"It did look kind of funny, I guess," he said.

"You have no idea," agreed the Colonel. "She'll never let you forget it, y'know."

Daniel sighed.

"Yup, I know."

* * *

The entire SGC knew of the incident before lunch time started at 12.00. Daniel had slunk off to his office after the morning meeting and hadn't been seen since. Vala was on a roll – she was dancing up and down the corridors, flirting unashamedly with all the airmen that she came in contact with, fiddling with Sam's equipment – almost back to her old self. One good night's sleep had done wonders for her morale, even if it hadn't done the same for Daniel's.

She left the colonel's office eventually about 4.00pm, heading towards the gate room, telling her friend that she was going to see what bets Walter had running at the moment. When she came back about twenty minutes later however, she was looking positively miserable.

"What's up?" said Sam, looking away from the little gadget she was tinkering with.

Vala shrugged and pouted.

"Nothing. I don't care."

Carter put her tools down.

"Whatever it is, I think that you probably do care." She took Vala's hand, who very gently disengaged herself and moved away. Sam thought that she knew what was coming.

"Daniel says that he won't stay in the base at night with me anymore." The alien woman folded her arms across her chest, turning her back on Samantha. "He says that he understands I have a problem but I'm too embarrassing to look after in this situation and I ought to be getting proper help instead of getting him into trouble."

She snorted.

"Like I got him into trouble! He fell asleep the same as I did, it's not my fault if he didn't hear his stupid alarm! And it's not my fault if HE decided that he didn't want to come out with me in the middle of the night, but stay in bed instead. Laziness, I call it. I never asked him to sleep with me, well, not really meaning to, well, not really thinking he actually would, you know, in the real sense of the word – what's the word? Fortification? Thornicate? You Tau'ri have funny words for things – on my home planet we used to call it…"

"Enough already!" Sam put her hands up, feeling as if she was being buffeted by a verbal hurricane. "Vala, he's just angry and embarrassed. He's been the butt of some serious teasing today. He knows, the same as you do, that no-one really believes that you slept together."

"More's the pity,"whispered the alien. Sam frowned at her.

"Look, just give him a couple of days, and I'm sure he'll help out again. There's only tonight and tomorrow, then you can come and stay over with me."

Vala perked up a little.

"I suppose so." She sighed. "It's just…." Her voice trailed away. Sam waited. "Never mind."

"Tell me?" asked the Colonel. There was silence for a bit. Her friend was sidling towards the door. Running again. "Tell me, Vala."

The other woman looked across at her, eyes sad. She shrugged.

"The SGC's lonely at night."

Sam hugged her.

"Two more nights, Vala, that's all. Two more nights and then you're off base with me and Mitchell for the week-end. You can do it."

Her friend nodded.

"Yes. Who cares about stuffy old Daniel? Two nights. Piece of cake."

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**Hope you enjoyed it! More very soon!**


	7. Chapter 6 Down In One

The next two days were a nightmare. Daniel and Vala squabbled and sniped at each other continually. Mitchell and Sam were caught periodically in the cross fire and had to act as referees. Teal'c had taken the opportunity to attend a meeting for four days on Chu'lak. He assured the two colonels' that it was pure chance that his leaving coincided with the team's various verbal scuffles. They found out later that the meeting had only lasted half a day. He'd spent the rest of his time with General O'Neill up at the cabin.

By the time Friday lunchtime came, Cameron had had enough. He was pretty sure that Vala hadn't slept at all since Wednesday morning. If she tripped over or dropped one more thing through tiredness he had a feeling that either Sam or Daniel would seriously consider throttling her.

"Infirmary," he ordered, coming up behind her in the lunch queue.

"No," she scowled back at him. She couldn't even open her eyes properly she was so exhausted - she squinted up at him and stuck out her tongue. "I'm not going."

"You are if I order you to." Cam was taking no prisoners. He'd had enough. "It's Carolyn and the infirmary, or a proper psychiatrist and time off. Your choice."

Vala glared.

"I hate you!" she spat out at him, and turned her back.

"I know. And I love you too!" Taking her firmly by the shoulders, her team leader marched her straight out of the cafeteria and into the lift.

* * *

Dr Lam had peered and poked and prodded Vala all over. She'd taken blood, and other bodily fluids, and scanned her – and found nothing.

"See!" said Ms Mal Doran. "Told you I was fine."

"I didn't say you were fine," admonished Carolyn. "I said there was nothing _physically_ wrong with you. That's a different matter entirely."

"Well, what then?" snapped Vala. She didn't mean to be grumpy to the doctor, she was just so darn tired. Damned nightmares. Hideous Quetesh. Stupid previous life.

Without even realising what she was doing she laid down on the trolley and closed her eyes. She was already dropping off when Carolyn's voice woke her.

"I want you to try these." She rattled a little vial with three round green tablets inside. "They're sleeping tablets – they'll give you three nights of good sleep -it may be that's all that you just need to get back into the habit of sleeping properly at the correct time."

Vala took the vial from her. Dr Lam moved aside with Colonel Mitchell.

"We all know how she protects herself with trying to act like everything's fine and nothing really matters," she said quietly to him. "It's possible that she's hidden her true feelings for so long that this is the only way they can find a release."

"Through her dreams?" asked the colonel. Carolyn nodded.

"Perhaps a bit of therapy _would_ help – nothing too deep, just a non-biased person, able to just listen to her talk."

She turned back to Vala, who was draining a plastic cup of water.

"Where are the tablets?" the doctor asked her.

"I just took them," replied SG-1's shorter alien.

"You did what?!" Carolyn and Mitchell both said together.

"I took them. You told me too!" Vala looked bemused. "You said, try these – you get three nights sleep. You told me to take them!"

"Yes, but not now!" said Carolyn, exasperated. "And certainly not all in one go!"

"For crying out loud, woman!" shouted Mitchell. "don't you think that the proper time to take a sleeping tablet is when you want to actually sleep? Like, just before bed?"

"Well – I don't know," Vala's voice was raised too. A couple of other patients were watching with interest. "I just did what Dr Lam said – take the tablets! She didn't say what time to take them! How am I supposed to know? I never took any of your Tau'ri medicines before!"

Cameron dropped his head to his chest. Boy, if this was how Jackson was feeling just now, he had every sympathy with the man.

"You'll have to stay in the infirmary," said Carolyn firmly. "those tablets shouldn't give you any serious problems, even though you've overdosed, but you're about to experience one massive beauty sleep."

"But I don't want to sleep in the daytime!" protested Vala, trying to get off of the trolley.

"Too late," Mitchell pushed her back on to it. "That's an order. And we are off-world tomorrow, so I suppose a good day's sleep is nearly as useful as a good night's one."

His team mate stuck out her tongue and turned over on the trolley so that she had her back to him. He chuckled, and followed Carolyn into her office. By the time he left, ten minutes or so later, Vala was fast asleep.


	8. Chapter 7 Dr Jackson's Being Childish

**Thank you everyone for your continuing reviews, I love reading them! Hope that my story continues to make you all smile :-)**

* * *

The following morning, SG-1 assembled in the gate room at 07.30hrs. It was a Saturday, unusual for an off-world trip, but the team were covering emergencies for the week-end, so off they were going.

"It's a routine check on the planet," Landry had told them. " could probably leave it until next week, but it means we'll be behind with some of our other missions. You'll only be there six hours or so – back for the evening."

"I hope so," frowned Vala. "I'm still staying at your's tonight, aren't I, Samantha?"

"Absolutely," the colonel smiled at her. She was looking forward to it. The girls didn't have much time to do 'girly' stuff together. Working at the SGC was a life in itself.

Sleeping through the entirety of Friday had led to their sleepover being postponed until Saturday. Mitchell was beside himself with glee – it meant that he was off the hook for alien-sitting.

"Goody!" giggled Vala. She rubbed her eyes. Almost twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep had culminated in a pounding headache and bad mood when she had eventually awoken at close on one o'clock in the morning. Dehydration, the duty nurse had told her, and plied her with copious cups of water and coffee. They'd let her out by 4 am – she'd gone straight to Daniel's office, deliberately moving all of his books and artefacts around and hiding some of his notes and paraphernalia. She felt a bit guilty but justified too.

Fat lot of help you were Dr Jackson, she'd grumbled to a small engraved statuette that had had the misfortune to get in her way. Last time I ask you for help.

She'd stomped off to her own quarters after a while, and started throwing her own stuff about, in an attempt to get ready for their mission. So by the time that they all arrived in the gate room she'd already been awake for over seven hours.

Ah, this is going to go well, thought Cameron, with a rare sense of foreboding. No Teal'c to calm everyone down, and Laurel and Hardy there ready to smash things over each other's heads. Wonderful.

Daniel was ignoring Vala completely. He didn't really know why he felt like being so childish – he'd moaned to the same small statuette the previous evening that "she's driven me to it!" The statuette hadn't replied. Deep down, he felt anxious, and sorry for his team-mate. But she always made him feel so irritated! And her joy in winding him up sometimes was pure malevolence. He was canny enough to realise that it was just one of her ways of getting attention, but boy, did it drive him mad. And the fun that she'd had with the whole – "I slept with Dr Jackson" tale that had spread around the SGC was beyond a joke. He sighed, just as she did the same. She glanced across at him then quickly looked away again, but not before he'd seen that glimmer of sadness in her eyes. Damn the woman! Now she was making him feel guilty, when it was all her fault. It was always her fault! As soon as he had the thought, he knew that it wasn't true. And he had to admit, it had felt rather – well – nice, having Vala sleep next to him. Warm and cosy. She'd tucked in very nicely underneath his arm, almost like she was meant to fit in there.

Stop it Jackson, he warned himself. Don't go there. But he couldn't then get rid of the feeling, that it _had_ been pleasant, cuddling up with her, there in the makeshift bed in his office. And it had made her sleep hadn't it? Me too, he thought, pondering. I slept well too.

He looked back across at her, but she was struggling into her backpack and didn't see him. Mitchell did though – he looked across at Sam and winked. She pulled a face and shook her head. All she needed was the other Colonel to start up with the teasing again. Landry rapped on the window in the control room, just as the outer ring on the Stargate began to move slowly into place. They were moving out.

* * *

By 11.30am Mitchell had had enough. Vala had already broken one of Daniel's artefacts. He'd told her off half-heartedly, whereupon she'd blown her top, sworn at him in Gou'ald and stormed off. They'd let her go, but when she'd been gone for over two hours, he'd sent Carter to look for her. She'd found her asleep on top of an old sandstone block, but when she'd woken her, the alien had freaked out. She'd shot off of the block before she realised where she was – it took Sam a good ten minutes to calm her down and even then her hands were still shaking.

"My face is leaking," stated Vala, as they made their way back to the base. She wouldn't normally have admitted it, but her sleeves were still soaked through from where she had wiped her face free of the Daniel-tears which had appeared before she dropped off to sleep. Sam, wisely, didn't comment, just handed back a Kleenex without even turning around.

Cameron was getting pots and ration packs together when they returned. He looked up at Vala.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded. "Good. You can get lunch ready then, you and Carter. I'll get Jackson."

When he found the archaeologist, he was sitting half asleep with his back against a pillar, open work book forgotten on his lap.

"It's gonna take us a week to get these readings if you and Carter don't pull your respective fingers out," he told his friend, gruffly.

"Sorry," Daniel sat up, putting his glasses back on. "I guess I'm not really in the mood for it today."

"I guess none of us are." Cam sat down beside him. " You've upset the Princess again too, y'know."

His team mate rolled his eyes. "If I had a penny for every time I've upset her, I'd be a rich man by now." He paused. "She brings out the worst in me."

"And the best, maybe?" said Mitchell. He looked sideways at his friend. "You're always moaning at her, but there's not many people who'd voluntarily give themselves insomnia for someone – for four nights running! You two just need to chillax, for cryin' out loud! You both argue really well with each other, we get that, but you also _work_ really well together, when you both decide to. And you're friends too, really, underneath. Admit it, Jackson."

Daniel shrugged. Everything Cameron said was true. There was a real bond between himself and the zany alien. He thought back to when they weren't even sure if she was still alive, after she'd destroyed the Ori Supergate, and how he had felt, lying there in that infirmary bed. He'd felt – awful. A jolt went through him as he finally acknowledged that life without Vala in it would be – awful. He really was very fond of her.

"C'mon," Mitchell stood up and put out his hand to help Daniel. "Let's get back to them before they try to give us food poisoning. Neither of them's a natural cook."

Dr Jackson decided to refrain from reminding his commanding officer about his famous macaroons.

"Thanks, Mitchell," was all he said, as they headed back to the girls.

"No problem, man. No problem."


	9. Chapter 8 Vala's Lost Her Marbles

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you lovely people who continue to review my story! I'm so grateful to you all. Glad that you're still enjoying it :-)**

* * *

By 16.00 hours the four members of SG-1 present on the planet had all removed their BDU jackets and vests. The heat was ridiculous – it was like working next to an open oven .Damp, sweaty, hot and cross – they all moped about, waiting for the readings and notes to be completed.

Vala stood up from where she was flicking through one of Daniel's notebooks and in the blink of an eye had kicked off her boots and yanked down her trousers, revealing a pair of skimpy grey shorts underneath.

"Vala!" said Mitchell, sternly.

"Fire me!" she snapped back at him.

He sighed.

"What the heck." He pulled his black T-shirt up and over his head, throwing it on top of his rucksack. Carter opened her eyes wide at him.

"Fire me," he grinned.

"That's more like it, Cameron," purred Vala, slinking over towards him, notebook discarded in the dust.

"Leave it Princess,' Mitchell wagged his finger at her and crouched next to his fellow colonel, to check on her progress with the readings.

"Come on Daniel,' cajoled the cheeky alien, "everyone else has taken their clothes off."

:I haven't!" retorted Sam, affronted. She wiped her face with her hand. "though, I kind of wish I'd had the idea to pack my shorts too!"

Daniel just glowered at them all and jerked a pile of his books towards him. The artefact on top – some sort of small board with marble-like balls in little grooves, wobbled and tipped onto the sand. He swore in Ancient and went to pick it up. Vala moved too – bending at the same time, they whacked heads together.

"Goddammit!" The archaeologist put his hand out to push her away but in doing so he shoved her harder than he meant to – she toppled backwards onto the sand.

"Careful, Jackson!"

"Careful, Daniel!"

Mitchell and Sam spoke together.

"Sorry…" he started to say but it was too late. The ex-Gou'ald pushed him back as hard as she could, eyes flashing with fury, before picking up the artefact and hurling it across the campsite. It smashed into a pillar, marbley little balls flying everywhere.

"Try decoding THAT, Dr Jackson!" she spat at him, before marching away back towards the Stargate.

"For crying out loud!" Mitchell was at his wits' end. "Can you people not do _anything_ together without it culminating in some kind of face off? Jeez!"

He threw himself off after Vala. Sam moved quietly to pick up as many of the broken bits of marble-dom as she could. When she handed them back to her friend she had just one short sentence for him.

"Talk to her." Daniel locked gazes with the colonel for a long moment. "Just – talk to her."

He nodded.

"I will."

* * *

Vala was standing by the DHD when Mitchell caught up with her.

"Oh no you don't!" He caught the hand that was about to call up the first chevron.

She didn't speak, just glowered and folded her arms, hunching her shoulders up around her ears.

"C'mon," Mitchell put his own arm around her but she shrugged him off. "You know he doesn't mean it, I know you do. He's just a crusty old professor sometimes, c'mon!"

He tickled her cheek to try and make her smile but she was having none of it. She just hunched some more and looked out at the horizon.

"Vala," the colonel said, then sighed. "You two are so wrong for each other, that it's right! Do you get what I'm saying? But you gotta sort it out between you! You're driving the rest of SG-1 nuts! Heck, you're driving the entire SGC nuts! Do you even know how much money is riding on you two becoming an item?"

For the first time Vala peeped at him, a slight look of interest on her face.

"Look," Cameron put his arm across her shoulders again. This time she didn't protest. "You guys mean the world to each other, even if you won't admit it. But you gotta stop with the infantile strops all the time! And start being true to yourselves!"

Vala didn't move, but Cam knew that she was taking it all in. He could practically see the cogs moving inside her head. He guessed this whole insomnia thing was making both of them look closer at their feelings towards each other. When he'd been offered the position of heading up SG-1 he'd had no idea that this was the sort of nonsense he'd be getting himself into. Matchmaking, of all things, for want of a better word. He shook his head in resignation. Jack O'Neill sure hadn't warned him that there'd be days like this.

Vala's voice broke in on his thoughts. She pointed ahead, towards the horizon, a faint crease between her brows.

"What's that, Cameron?" she asked. He followed her gaze. The slight breeze which had begun a few minutes earlier was beginning to whip itself up into something a lot stronger. And right there, where she was pointing – the biggest, ugliest sandstorm he'd seen in a long time was heading there way.

Awwww, crap!

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**Busy weekend ahead, here at Naquadah Mansions - I'll try and get another chapter up on Sunday but it won't be until late evening at the earliest. Thanks again, hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	10. Chapter 9 Unexpected Excitement

**Thanks for all of the latest reviews - you lot are fabulous! Sorry this chapter is up slightly later that I intended - hope that you enjoy it :-)**

* * *

Cameron and Vala turned without a word and ran as fast as they could back to Daniel and Samantha. The colonel could barely speak when he arrived, he leant forward, panting, gesticulating in the general direction of the Stargate. Vala, slightly behind him, had enough puff left to squeak out "Sandstorm!"

In an instant they were all scrambling for tents and back packs – moving equipment, hiding monitors and grabbing whatever they could find lying about which belonged to themselves. Daniel and Vala, argument forgotten, were piling up his books and bits of tat as fast as they could. Mitchell – thanking God for whoever had designed Pop-Up tents – was whipping them out of their packs as quickly as possible and bashing the pegs in with his boot. Sam's equipment was sorted safely by the time she came crawling into the tent where Vala had just dumped a load of Daniel's precious bits and bobs.

"Wow!" panted the pretty colonel. "Didn't see that coming!"

"I did!" replied her friend. She was quite excited. "I could see it from the Stargate! I said to Mitchell, look – what's that? You should have seen his face! I thought he was going to cry for a minute – that would have been quite sweet actually, a boy crying, y'know. Although, of course, Mitchell is a man. I mean obviously. Not that I've looked closely. Well not very closely. Well, not often anyway. There was that time in the locker room when I was inside Daniel….."

"Aaagh!" Sam threw her hands up. This must be how Jack felt when she herself started lapsing into techno-babble. "Enough already! It's also rather annoying, and means we're stuck here until it's over."

Vala pouted.

"No girls night then?"

Sam shook her head and pulled a face

"Not this week-end, I'm afraid."

"Stupid sandstorm!" The alien woman had forgotten that thirty seconds ago it had apparently been an exciting sandstorm. "Couldn't we have outrun it? Back to the Stargate, I mean?"

Sam shook her head again.

"Too much equipment," she sighed. As if to prove her right, a blast of hot wind hit the side of the tent. Small eddies of sand worked there way in through any little openings in the material. She called across to the other tent. "You okay, guys?"

"Fantastic!" Daniel shouted back, and sneezed loudly.

Mitchell handed him a Kleenex and stretched out on his bedroll. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

The storm raged on until well after sunset. They managed to eat their MRE rations in the light from their torches – the swirling, marauding sand made it as dark in the tents as if it was night. Vala had produced a pack of playing cards from her rucksack and the girls were playing a very sedate game of rummy. The alien had wanted to play poker, but after Sam had pointed out that it really wouldn't be nearly so much fun with just the two of them taking their clothes off she'd relented and was quite enjoying this new game. Mitchell had fallen asleep and was snoring quietly. Daniel was lying on his back listening to the girls' giggling and wondering how he was _ever_ going to find the right words to talk to Vala.

"Daniel!" she shouted, almost on cue. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing!" he yelled back, over the noise of the roaring sand.

"Okay!" she replied. He shook his head, smiling.

"What did she say?" asked Mitchell, sleepily.

"Nothing," said the archaeologist. "she just wanted to make sure that we were more bored than her."

Cameron snorted.

"I give her half an hour before she's tearing down those tent walls in frustration." He turned onto his side. "Night, Jackson."

* * *

**Just a short chapter - penultimate one up tomorrow! Don't worry - it'll all be sorted out in the end!**


	11. Chapter 10 The Graveyard Shift

**Okay, penultimate chapter! Hope that it's okay and you're not too disappointed. Just the epilogue to put up in a day or so.**

**Thanks again to everyone who's read and reviewed this!**

* * *

Of course, Cam hadn't slept for long. By just before 23.00hrs it was calm enough for them to crawl out of their tents, check that everyone was okay, the equipment was still working, dust off any excessive sand and settle down properly for the night shift. Daniel went briefly back to the Stargate to dial into the SGC and tell them that they were all fine, but the sandstorm had set them back work-wise and they'd be coming home sometime late the next morning.

Mitchell took the first watch, seeing as he'd had quite a nice little kip during the storm – he was sitting quietly in the light from three small nightlights at just after 01.00am when he saw a torch flick on suddenly in the girls' tent. There was no sound or movement, but the light stayed on – after about ten minutes he crept over and quietly unzipped the flap. Vala was lying on her side, fully clothed on top of the sleeping bag, hugging the torch to her. She didn't move and he was unsure if she was awake, until she turned onto her back. Her face looked as if it was made from chalk, she was so pale.

"Nightmare?" he whispered. She nodded.

"Wanna come and sit with me?" she nodded again. He put his hand out for her and pulled her up and out of the tent. She didn't say anything, just sat right up close next to him, with her back against the stonework of the ruins, looking into the tiny flames from the night-lights. He remembered that he had some chocolate in his backpack after a while – once she'd helped him eat that she perked up somewhat and started whispering about the bets that Walter had on his books, back at home. They were both so intent on discussing the odds that the technician was offering that Cam didn't notice when his watch was finished, and they were both surprised when Daniel came crawling out of the tent about 02.30am.

"You didn't wake me," he grunted, rubbing his sleep-tousled hair and squinting at the pair of them.

"Too busy havin' fun," replied Cameron, making Vala giggle. "But it's your turn now. You be okay, Princess?"

She pursed her lips and nodded. Daniel nodded too.

"We'll be fine. I promise – no arguing in the middle of the night!"

"There'd better not be!" hurrumphed Cam, crawling back into the tent.

Daniel sat down close to Vala, but not as close as Mitchell had been. She eyed him speculatively. He smiled apologetically.

"I really am sorry about earlier." He brushed her cheek very softly and she shivered.

"Me too," she whispered. "I didn't mean to break your – your – thing. Well, I did mean to, but I didn't mean to, if you know what I mean…"

"Vala," he put his finger on her lips. She stopped talking. Inspiration was creeping up on him. Mitchell had mentioned something which Carolyn had said to him – about the dreams being some way of Vala releasing her fears. "Tell me what you dreamt."

Her mouth dropped. For an instant she looked absolutely terrified. She went to move away but he grabbed her wrist

"No." he sat as still as he could – he wanted to catch her other hand too, but thought it might make her feel as if she was being trapped. "Vala – these dreams are your subconscious asking for help. We're all here to help you – the whole team. I'm here to help you. Just let go that last little bit – trust me. Please."

Her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

"I can't," she whispered, her voice cracking with a small sob. "They are – are just so, just so terrible. And horrible. And me .." she put her free hand up to her eyes as the tears started " …I do terrible things in them…sometimes…and I see….." She trailed away with a small gulp.

Daniel didn't falter. He moved along side her. They were both about to step out into uncharted territory. He didn't put his arm around her, not at first, but just held her hand in both of his, close to his chest.

"Tell me," he repeated softly.

She didn't speak for ages, and he thought he hadn't succeeded, but then, barely louder than a whisper, she started at last to let go of that awful burden she'd been carrying for so long. Looking into the candle flame, not at him – haltingly, stumbling, she began to share the dark, sad part of her soul which she'd never shown anyone before. After a while, the words came easier – sometimes she had to pause to wipe her nose and eyes – Daniel just passed her tissues without comment. Once, when she told him about Quetesh taking a group of children from their parents she had to stop for a while and put her head down on to her knees. But after a few minutes, she pulled herself together and carried on. And after a while, the stories changed, and they were more Vala – her life when she was younger, when she'd been happier – without realising the tears stopped, she even chuckled a couple of times. Daniel laughed outright when she told some tale about a chicken house and a goat. Then she was onto Vala- Space Pirate, and he thought that some of her tales were most likely exaggerated, but he let her get away with it, because his plan had worked and she was winning against the nightmares.

The sun was just peeping over the horizon when eventually she stopped speaking. She was leaning heavily against his arm, her head on his shoulder. They were both silent as they watched the sky change colour from grey, to red, to pink.

"My throat hurts," she said eventually. She did sound pretty raspy.

"Serves you right for talking so much," smiled Daniel, leaning over and kissing the top of her head before he realised what he'd done. He blushed, but when she looked up at him, he held her gaze.

"Thank you Daniel," she whispered, large grey eyes looking seriously into his. "For helping me. And putting up with me. I'll try to be good from now on, I promise I will."

He grinned, and felt the most insane urge to kiss her again.

"You won't be good all the time," he told her. "But nobody cares. Just be yourself, Vala. Just be yourself."

She nodded, and kissed the top of his arm before leaning back against him. Daniel was still looking at the top of her touselled, raven-haired head. He kissed it again, very softly and hoped that she didn't notice. She didn't. She was asleep.


	12. Epilogue

**Final chapter! I've loved publishing this story so much, thanks mainly to all of you lovelies who've reviewed it! Thanks so much for sticking it with it - I hope that you enjoyed it.**

* * *

Epilogue

SG-1 came struggling back into the gateroom with all of their equipment just after 12.00 the following afternoon. All of them looked considerably sandier and scruffier than when they'd headed out –General Landry commented uncharitably that they all looked like they'd been through a hedge backwards.

"A sandstorm backwards, sir," Mitchell quipped, as he headed off towards the infirmary. Vala, dumping her overstuffed rucksack at the bottom of the ramp linked arms with Sam, who had just off-loaded her own onto a harassed looking airman.

"Feeling better, then?" asked the blonde colonel, squeezing the arm that was slipped through her own.

"Oooh, definitely," smiled the alien. There _was_ something different about her, thought Carter – her eyes looked softer, and the tenseness that she had shown around her mouth for so long was gone. She could practically feel the waves of relief and relaxation rolling off of her friend.

"Careful then," she chuckled, "or you'll have us all so chilled out that we'll be asleep in the de-brief!"

Vala giggled.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time," she acknowledged. "sometimes when Daniel's talking I think Landry _does_ go to sleep! And I'm sure Cameron does – he definitely did a cough the other day which sounded to me like a snore. And his eyes were closed the whole time our good doctor was talking! I mean, mine were closed for a bit, but I was tired – and I was actually thinking of Daniel at the time – well, not what he was talking about, but other sorts of things – you know, like, what colour of underwear he was wearing, what type of cologne he had on…"

"Stop!" Sam laughed outright. "Vala you're incorrigible, really you are.'

"I'm sure I am!" giggled the other woman. "I'm not sure what it means, but it sounds like me!"

Carter stopped suddenly and hugged her friend suddenly and swiftly.

"It's just good to have you back," she said, smiling. Vala nodded, and pretended that she had itchy eyes.

"I know."

* * *

An hour later and Dr Lam had prodded them, squeezed them and relieved them of various blood samples and other bodily fluids. Sam's results were back first – given the all clear she headed off towards the cafeteria, via the showers. Daniel was sitting in a chair with his feet up on one of the beds, reading one of his weighty tomes. Vala was lying on her front on another bed, flicking through OK magazine and swinging her feet in the air. Cameron, on the premise of pretending he had a headache, followed Carolyn into her office straight after she left the ward. Dr Jackson looked up, watched the colonel as he slipped away and grinned at Vala, who winked back at him. She rolled onto her back and stretched. The magazine slid onto the floor. Daniel looked down again at his book.

About five minutes later, Colonel Mitchell, grinning from ear to ear, opened the office door and looked out.

"Hey, look at this!" he said, over his shoulder, to where Carolyn was trying to get her thoroughly kissed self back into some semblance of order. She stood behind him twisting her hair up into a ponytail.

Vala was spread-eagled on her back, sound asleep, a sweet little smile on her face. Daniel was lying half on her bed and half on the one next door, which he'd pulled right up close. His head lay resting on her stomach and his arm was thrown across her waist. He was as soundly in the land of Nod as her.

Cam looked back at Carolyn, who nodded towards the telephone.

"You'd better get on to Walter," she smiled. "And tell him you want to put a bet on!"

**The End.**

* * *

**There we are! As I told a few of you, I have a 'kind of' part two to this story - the further romantic misfortunes of Daniel and Vala lol - which I'll start putting up on here after the excitement *looks dubious* of Christmas is all over. So in about a week or so. Keep your eyes peeled!**

**And thanks again to everyone who'd read this little tale - you've made me a very happy naquadah addict!**


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